Ep. 414 : Randall Goodgame Calls The Church to Sing Scripture How the Musician’s Career Evolved from Regional Success to Impacting the Church with Scripture-Centered Music

MinistryWatch Podcast

An Interview with Randall Goodgame: The Man Behind ‘Scripture Hymnal’

From Southern Rock to Scripture Songs: Randall Goodgame’s Musical Evolution

Randall Goodgame is one of my favorite people. For one thing, he is unfailingly nice, one of the nicest guys I know. And he’s enormously talented. He began his musical career while still an undergraduate in the 1990s playing keyboards for a southern rock band called Black Creek that had regional success and developed a cult following even though it released only a single live album. But, man, that album rocks. Randall’s senior thesis at Birmingham Southern College was an account of his year on the road with the band.

From there he released a couple of independent solo albums before finding success as a songwriter for such Christian artists as Andrew Peterson, Caedmon’s Call, and Jason Gray. As an artist, he toured with these artists as well as Jars of Clay.

His career took yet another turn when he collaborated with Andrew Peterson to produce a children’s album called “Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies.” This album led to more “Slugs and Bugs” albums, albums that combine a high artistic sensibility with solid biblical teaching. His album “Sing The Bible with Slugs and Bugs” takes Bible verses – not paraphrases, but word for word Scripture – and sets them to music.

The success of that album led to his latest project, “Scripture Hymnal.” Scripture Hymnal contains more than 100 Bible passages set to music. The book has sheet music, and a link to fully produced versions of every song in the book. It’s really a massive project, and one that is sure to have a big impact on the church and take its place in a growing movement of modern hymn writing we are seeing today.

It was a pleasure to talk with Randall Goodgame. We had this conversation last week, via zoom. He joined me from his studio near Nashville.

That brings to a close my interview with Randall Goodgame. His newest project is ”Scripture Hymnal.” I’ve got a copy of it myself, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.